The Raptors still have no idea what exactly their roster will look like next season. If everything goes right, Kawhi Leonard will be a Raptor, and Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick will continue their careers with the Clippers. However, the trade is still on hold as the investigation into the Clippers’ alleged salary-cap circumvention drags on, and training camp is slowly but surely sneaking up on the Raptors.
Nevertheless, The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie decided his offseason grade for the Raptors on the Game Theory Podcast under the assumption that Leonard would be a Raptor before the start of the season. He gave them an A.
“They went out and got the number-one guy for a relatively low cost,” Vecenie said. “And, on top of it, I would argue that they got the number-one guy who fits maybe best with Scottie Barnes of any number-one guy in the league. If you think about the way Kawhi’s game works with Scottie Barnes’s game, it’s gonna be perfect.”
Vecenie’s argument about Leonard’s fit with Barnes perfectly encapsulates what makes this whole trade mess so frustrating. It’s not just that the Raptors may miss out on an opportunity to add a superstar and catch up with the other Eastern Conference teams that either were already contenders or made offseason moves to put themselves in that conversation. It’s that they found THE guy, the perfect player to pair with their young franchise star, and now can’t go through with the trade for who knows how much longer.
The Raptors’ ceiling is high if Leonard returns to Toronto
A lot would have to go right for the Raptors to realize their full potential this season. First, the trade for Leonard has to go through. Then, Leonard has to be as healthy as possible (and not suspended for a bunch of games). Moreover, Scottie Barnes has to replicate much of what he showed in the playoffs, Jakob Poeltl has to stay healthy given the lack of center depth behind him, and youngsters Collin Murray-Boyles, Ja’Kobe Walter, and Jamal Shead have to be ready to lead the bench in their second and third seasons.
If most or even all of those things go right, the sky is the limit for the Raptors. They could be the best defense in the NBA, finish with a top seed in the regular-season standings, go on a deep playoff run, and maybe even challenge the New York Knicks and new-look Philadelphia 76ers for the Eastern Conference crown.
The margin of error would be small, but the potential is certainly there.
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